Sunday, December 9, 2012

As a child, Peter Johnson was really into cartoons, which quickly
translated into a strong passion for anime and manga. What started off as
hanging out around import-stores amongst the small bloom of U.S. anime market of the mid-to-late
90’s has led to the Global Manga Initiative. As head manager and spokesperson
for G.M.I., Peter, along with other professional contacts, has developed an
online community for upcoming manga creators.

A graduate with a custom B.A. in Japanese Anime and Manga, Peter
also spent a semester studying abroad at Japanime LTD best know for their
"How to Draw Manga" books. Concluding his education at the School of Visual Arts, he was able to get G.M.I.
off the ground. Peter was cool enough to site down with This Peculiar Life NYC
to talk about G.M.I., the state of the anime industry, and the joys of squirrel
fishing.

This Peculiar Life NYC:What made you want to start the Global Manga Initiative?

Peter Johnson: Stubbornness. Ever since I was a kid the idea of a
creator who wasn't born and raised in Japan, and particularly one from
the Western-world, making any serious ripples in the anime/manga-industry was a
long-shot at best, impossible at worst. That was something I always wanted to
change. It was incredibly frustrating growing up with the knowledge that this
art-form, this manner of story-telling, was something still very much isolated
from my ambitions due to its current-place in the world; locked behind language
and culture barriers that would take years or even decades to overcome, plus
social-prejudices that I would constantly have to work around. Even with The
Avengers blazing through the box-office, most people still raise an eyebrow
at the idea of you having a successful career in comics, let alone a SPECIFIC
FORM of comics from halfway around the world. Somewhere along the way I decided
that I wanted to change that, not just for myself but for every creator out
there with similar passions. I formed G.M.I. because I feel there are a lot of
creators out there like me who are just too dedicated and steadfast in their
ambitions to bear giving up on their goals, and I want to do my best to found
the kind of creative-platform for success I felt was missing from the
world of manga.

T.P.L. NYC: What are the goals and mission statements you hope to
achieve with G.M.I.?

P.J.:
I guess you could say one of our primary goals is to progress/evolve manga.
I've spent my education and my work seeing many talented creators who had
strong-passions for making manga, but who are realistically stagnated by the state
of the industry and how hard it is to find recognition/success as an artist to
begin with. There's all this great content out there, but so much of it just
floats adrift, isolated on the internet or dumped into massive-archives sites
where there is next-to-no chance of really standing out. With G.M.I., I want to
create an open-anthology that not only hosts quality work, but also
incorporates the creative aspects of that work into the anthology itself; that
really focuses on not just archiving these works, but letting the viewers and
fans who come to our site know what's going on in these individual, epic
stories. And part of that process is watching just what exactly this
melting-pot of creativity will allow the world to come up with, and how that
ends-up affecting the growth of the Manga-genre.

T.P.L. NYC: How long has G.M.I. been operating?

P.J.: G.M.I. began to form around the end of 2010, but operated
primarily behind closed-doors until spring of 2011, when we announced the
project on Deviantart leading up to our first major outing at New York
Comic-Con. Things were very 'hush-hush' at first; we spent a lot of time
speaking with various artists and writers. There was a lot of careful
preparation involved; we wanted to make sure we did this project right.
The website itself launched in July of 2012, so we're still fairly young,
but I'm looking forward to seeing where we go from here.

G.M.I. Homepage

T.P.L. NYC: How many people are involved in G.M.I., and what do
you think makes a good team?

P.J. G.M.I. is made up of about twenty individuals in-total
at-present. The artists, writers and other creators featured on the site make
up the majority overall, with the management team holding a
comparatively-smaller roster of myself and several other individuals of
various-roles/specialties.

I think making a good team isn't all that different from forging
good relationships with those around you in-general; honesty, understanding and
empathy really go a long way in forming dependable-bonds, even if only through
a computer. Once you make that connection, it's just a matter of knowing each
individual's strengths and how best to use them in collaboration with
one-another to get the job done. I'm very grateful to the absolutely-fantastic
work I've gotten out of all the on-board artists and my team thus-far.

T.P.L. NYC: You were just at Comic-Con. How was the
experience?

﻿

Peter Johnson and G.M.I. at NYC Comic-Con 2012

P.J.: This was our second year
at New York Comic-Con; we were at the 2011 Artist's Alley back when New York
Anime Festival was still part of the picture. That said, I can see why most
would think 2012's show was our first NYCC-outing since this was our first time
on the Show Floor-proper. The experience was probably what you'd expect; an
insane blend of excitement, effort, worry, fun and amazement, but a fantastic
ride when all was said and done. We were right-across from the Square-Enix
booth this year, and literally next to the Show Floor entrance, so it was a
little intimidating when the NYCC doors would open-up and that huge crowd would pour out in front of us,
but I have to say my team did an excellent job remaining cool under-fire. I was
also really glad that some of our artists made the effort to make an appearance
in-person, some coming from as far-away as Argentina. Being used to working
online, it was really great to see the support for the project take on a human
face, and they were absolutely wonderful people to meet.

T.P.L. NYC: What are some of your favorite titles on the site?
What are they about?

P.J.: I try to remain impartial overall when it comes to the works
on the site (I'm not voting in the Best of G.M.I. Awards), but I have to give
special-mention to Crystal Jayme and her work Nigh Heaven & Hell.
She's got a really great style, has a serious knack for creating
memorable/fun-characters, and is an absolute-gem to work with; she's been
consistently updating exclusively on G.M.I. at about a 30-page-per-month rate,
and includes some frankly-breath-taking color work to use for
promotion-purposes. That kind of effort deserves recognition. It's somewhat
contrary to the usual approach to story-telling, but has a sorta
tongue-in-cheek approach that makes it all just work, which adds to its overall
uniqueness/charm.

Another work I'm excited about is a new series coming to G.M.I. in
December; "Bleak" by the artist AI. Without spoiling too much, it
follows a high-school student who's depressed over the stagnant-nature of his
life, but then begins to experience strange, supernatural-dreams that blur
the lines between fantasy and reality, and make him rethink his approach to
life. I think a lot of people will be able to identify with its themes, which
orbit around the idea of wanting to escape the dreary, ordinary routine and
aspire to something greater in life.

T.P.L. NYC: How did you find your artists? Do they come to you or
do you go look for them?

P.J.: A little of both; we
scout works when we have the time to do so (either online or through cons) but
we also get approached by a wide-range of talent interested in contributing to
the anthology in some way or another.

T.P.L. NYC: What are some of the challenges that you face in
putting something “Global” together?

P.J.: It's tough to organize something with people living in
different countries, on different time-zones and speaking different languages
as opposed to friends/connections you have in the neighborhood, but it comes
with the concept here. One of the obvious updates we'd like
to incorporate into G.M.I. is a multi-language format, so we can
more-accurately reflect a "global" standing.

T.P.L. NYC: Why manga as opposed to other styles of comics? Why do
you emphasize this particular style?

P.J.: Manga has always been very interesting to me because it is
an art-form that is simultaneously incredibly-diverse yet still very restrained
in terms of its global development. Progress has definitely been made, and this
art-form is still comparatively young, but I feel the overall
"soul" of Manga is something that is still very-much concentrated in
a small part of the world in which it was born. So there's a great combination
of huge diversity of the format combined with the exciting potential of seeing
how Manga will evolve as it continues to progress through the art-world on a
global-level that keeps me excited about it.

T.P.L. NYC: How can people be a part of G.M.I.? Who do they
contact?

P.J.: The best way to get involved with G.M.I. is to contact us
through our website and give us a quick-introduction. Nothing too fancy needed,
just tell us who you are, the sort of work you've done in the past, what you
want to do in the future, and your general ambitions in regards to working with
us. If you want to pitch a work to be featured as part of the G.M.I. Roster, it
helps to include a brief summation of the series as well as a pilot-chapter so
we can get an idea of the style of the story. We're also looking for talented
bloggers, critics, writers, editors and those involved in video who are
interested in Anime and Manga, as we're currently working on expanding the
website with new aspects like review, coverage, editorial and media-sections.

-Make your Voice Heard; Give us an aspiring creators feedback
through our Community Forums, and Social-Networking.

-Witness the Evolution and Progression of the Manga-Genre
firsthand as creators from across the globe come together under one roof as
they strive to become the next great Manga Legend!

T.P.L. NYC: How do you feel G.M.I. contributes or changes the
anime/manga market?

P.J.: I feel the open-nature of G.M.I. makes it something of a
variable to the market; what it becomes is really up to the Manga-creators out
there. We're essentially throwing open the doors to the world itself and saying
"show us what you've got out there!", then taking the greatest works
we can find and doing our best to help show them off to the entire world. I
feel variables like that are good for the overall market as it's a great way to
see the art-form evolve "from the front-lines."

G.M.I. differs from other online indie-manga sites [because] G.M.I.[‘s]
…goal is to remain an online-anthology [not an] archive-site. There are
hundreds of sites out there that will host original-series, but are content to
simply dump these works onto a "social-network"-esque archive next to
hundreds of similarly-setup indie-series. These sites merely HOST the series
they receive without really engaging and promoting the creative works
they've been given individually in a way that keeps fans interested. With
G.M.I., when we accept a work onto our roster, we also promote it not just as
yet-another entry into our database, but as a creative world that is constantly changing and is exciting; when
a major battle, romantic turning-point or other major narrative event occurs in
one of our on-board series, you will see it
promoted right there on the front-page. This also makes it
more-fun for the fans, as they can just jump onto the site and instantly get a preview of what exciting
things are occurring in all these different stories under-one-roof.
This is a lot easier, and in my humble-opinion a lot more FUN, then having to scour through archives
trying to get an idea of what a series is really all about based solely on a
cover-image. Obviously this requires a smaller,
focused, tighter roster of ongoing-works, but by cycling through
featured series we keep things interesting and do our best to give great
stories and creators their time in the sun.

I don't feel a Manga Anthology with this level of focus combined
with this open, global nature hasn’t really existed yet, so if I could
accurately predict the response to this project, it wouldn't be nearly as much
fun to watch it develop *smiles*.

Page from Bleak, a series from G.M.I.

T.P.L. NYC: Are you exclusively web based or do you plan on going
into the print arena?

P.J.: Exclusively web-based...for now...

T.P.L. NYC: So this blog is about peculiar things, what is one of
the most peculiar anime/manga titles you have seen or read recently?

P.J.: One of my all-time-favorite mangas is Yu Yagami's HIKKATSU!:
Strike a Blow to Vivify! because of its incredibly bizarre and
absolutely hilarious nature. It's about an expert martial-artist who literally
beats things back into shape with a technique called the "Repair
Blow"; a master-level strike designed to fix next-to-any problem with
something, whether it be a human or mechanical entity. The result? This guy
round-house kicks his friend across the street to fix the guy's dislocated
shoulder, engages in epic-battle against rampaging malfunctioning
construction-equipment and blows a hole in Mt.Fuji
to "fix" the frigid conditions on the mountain's peak. Combine that
with the fact that the "Repair Blow" isn't quite perfected and the
primary love-interest being raised by pigeons and you get
hilariously bizarre story you won't soon forget. I continue to
profuse my adoration for this series here: http://gmimanga.exepicstudios.com/forum/?mingleforumaction=viewtopic&t=33

Cover of Hikkatsu Vol. 1

T.P.L. NYC: What is the most peculiar thing you have experienced
or seen while in NYC?

P.J.: Squirrel-Fishin'. Basically the idea is several people sit
up in a tree, or on a high-point (like a rooftop) in a park or some other
environment that squirrels would inhabit with acorns, walnuts or the like tied
to the end of fishing line. You drop your bait to the ground below and wait for
a squirrel to grab-hold, then try to lift your furry-friend as high off the
ground as you can before they either free the bait or bail; highest squirrel
wins. Yes this is a real thing and no, they don't use any hooks (because that
would be cheating...in addition to the cruelty). Easily the strangest thing
I've seen in Central Park...

Squirrel-Fishing in the park

To learn more about G.M.I., or be a part of the creative team,
please visit their website, as they have some upcoming events planned. They
will premiere two new series for December: "Bleak" by AI and
"Meeting Hearts" by Stela Canga. Stick around for their “Best of
G.M.I. Awards"; a poll to determine which Ongoing-Series will be declared
the best G.M.I. Series for 2012. Fans can vote now at http://gmimanga.exepicstudios.com/best-of-g-m-i-voting-page/ Polls
close 2013.

Wednesday, October 10, 2012

Jorel
Lonesome is an American comic book writer and editor best known for his
independent comic anthology series, Blackout
1& 2 for Pronto Comics. In
addition, he has featured stories in other Pronto Comics anthologies such as For a Price, Kicked and Pronto Goes to War. Born in Manhattan and
raised in the Bronx, he is the second of two children of a middle school
teaching mother and a computer-engineering father. A student and scholar at
Borough of Manhattan Community College working on his associate’s degree in
English, Jorel is working on becoming a better writer. He first found his love
of comics by drawing his own using familiar characters such as Spider-Man,
Spawn, and Blade. His appreciation for writing developed by keeping a journal,
where he would add physical objects, mementos, newspaper and magazine article
photos, relating to most of his journal entries. A fan of everything from hard
rock bands, WWE wrestlers, and spoken word poetry, helped to influence his
writing. At 16, Jorel performed his spoken word poetry at numerous venues such
as Deborah Gray throughout New York City. He had a signature piece, Town Crier, a poem that depicts the social
issues of his community, which was well received by audiences. From 2004 to
2010, he was an MC known as Silent Thoughts, where he featured rap cyphers
called, "Spit-N-Pass" before deciding to take a break from spoken
word poetry to focus on comics. Jorel was kind enough to sit down it This
Peculiar Life NYC to tell us all about how he got started and his creative process.

This Peculiar Life NYC: You are involved in comics;
tell me how did you become a part of Pronto Comics?

Jorel Lonesome: It all started when I enrolled in Andy Schmidt's Comics
Experience courses instructed by Mike Siglain, an editor at DC comics at the
time. It was a hand’s on intensive 6-week program, learning how to create
effective visual storytelling. It was quite a challenge, but it is one of the
best courses to take if you want to learn how to draw and/or write
comics. When classes were over, I stuck around quick enough to keep in
touch with colleagues. There I was introduced to the students who took the
writing courses. Achilles Yeldell, a student from the comics experience writing
course and the founder of Pronto Comics, had us all join him in what he called
"The Breaking In Network," to discuss what comic book stories
we can create as a group. The writers and artists, me included, networked
together and decided to create a comic book anthology about bounty hunters. We
scheduled monthly meetings at a pizza shop downtown near Times Square. The
meeting consisted of finding out what stories that beginning writers want to
tell, pitching their stories to artists and working together to develop a five-
page comic for the anthology. So we collaborated and eventually released our
first book titled For a Price: Bounty
Hunters And Other Scum. It features ten stories from various writers and
artists in addition to other talents that were not in the comics experience
courses, but joined to show their magic on a page. More comfortable taking the
position as writer, I wrote a short story that is featured called "Club
Banger". It was about a hard-nosed, veteran bounty hunter named Conrad
Buchanan. He must capture a shape shifting bail jumper, formally created by a
secret US government experiment. After the anthology was released, everyone
suggested we'd make up a name for ourselves as a collective? We called
ourselves Pronto Comics. I’ve been with the group three years now.

T.P.L. NYC: What were you doing before Pronto?

J.L.: I was reciting poems and spoken word at little cozy cafe's, bars and
clubs throughout New York City.

T.P.L. NYC: You are a writer for comics. How has
your experience as a writer shaped your view of comics?

J.L.: I remember seeing my first comic in print. It
was interesting to go back to memory lane and realize how it began and what it
takes to make a decent story for readers. I remember having to edit my script
4-5 times to get it right within a 5-page limit. It was not easy work, but when
you have a passion for writing comics and enjoy the process, there is no
stopping you. Seeing my story told from script form to a visual narrative blew
me away. Over the years, thus far, I continue learning more about how comics
should be done for the sake of our audience. I can look through a comic
book and find the fundamental development that lies within each completed page,
how it relates to my process of making a comic and comparing their work to mine,
whether it’s good or bad. I take into consideration of how important it is to
tell a visual story and the contents that need to be there for readers. The
goal of making a comic book is to keep your audience turning from page to page
using dynamic visuals and compelling storytelling. Whenever I make a comic, I
make it my goal to meet the standards. It is also a great accomplishment to
exceed our audience’s expectations.

T.P.L. NYC: Blackout
is your signature book. Tell me what it is about?

Blackout 1

J.L.: Mischievous brothers, Chester and Preston
Pemberton, arrive at a mysterious tree house in the outskirts of Vineville
Town. Suddenly, the brothers are welcoming guests by the lonely being as it
brings them inside of its realm for a treat. Hesitant to enter it, Chester and
Preston peek through a room filled with art utensils, painting canvases and
magical paraphernalia as if it were occupied by a wizard of some kind. They’re
captivated by it and play as long as they please, until Chester mistakenly hits
Preston with a magic wand, causing Preston to spill magic ink onto a mapped
painting of Vineville. As the ink trickles down, the light bulb flickers in the
room. Once the black ink covers the whole painting, the entire town is out of
electrical power as all sources of light become scarce. A series of mishaps
occur in the town, which most of our Vineville residents concurrently
experience during the first night of this particular blackout.

T.P.L. NYC: How did you come up with the concept for
it?

J.L.: It was a hot day in the summer of 2010.
In my neighborhood, everyone had their air conditioning on, in their homes and
led to me thinking, what if all the power eventually goes out? Later that
night, I said it too soon. I was packing up to go out of the country for
vacation. During my destination from New York to the Caribbean Islands, I began
to believe that it might be interesting to have a blackout themed comic book. I
pitched it to the Pronto guys and they liked the idea, so we went with it.

T.P.L. NYC: How many issues is it?

J.L.: There is issue one and two issue three will be released in the near
future.

T.P.L. NYC: When can we see the new issue?

J.L.: Issue 2 will be ready October 2012. Blackout 3 is slated for release in
2013.

T.P.L. NYC: The format has changed from an anthology
to a series of one-shots. Why the change?

J.L.: Pronto is heading towards a new direction,
which is writing one-shots, so after Blackout
issues #2 and #3, it will then
become a series. We also want to focus on the town itself and get more in depth
with our characters.

T.P.L. NYC: What is the new one- shot about?

J.L.: Despite the continuation of the Blackout series still in development
process, we know that it continues where the anthologies left off. Blackout
will pay more attention to the town and its cryptic past, which the founders
and authority of the town try burying to maintain control. We experience how
this mysterious blackout begins to wear on the residents and how Vineville's
scarcity of light effects their living standards. The characters will lead our
way to getting deeper into the town’s origin and the cost for doing so.

Cover for Blackout 2

T.P.L. NYC: Aside from being a writer you are also
an editor, how do you feel the two jobs are different from each other?

J.L.: As an editor, you have to build a creative
bond with the writers and artists. Staying on the same page is very important.
You have to make sure the people involved in the project are on tabs with their
work and doing it properly for the story to be told as well. You have
responsibility over the progress of each story for the sake of the comic book.
You also need to look at a page and find out what works and what doesn't. You need
to find what needs to be added, taken out or changed. You should also ask
yourself, “What would make this page better? Does the art flow well with the
story through the panels? Are the characters engaging? Will the reader be
entertained throughout the book? What enlightenment or feelings, emotions can
we get out of the reader? What relationship does the characters and audience
share? I look for character development in the story so we can put ourselves in
the characters shoes and immerse ourselves in the story as we find ways we can
interpret it from our viewpoint. As a beginning editor, I look out for these
things. I try to avoid dissatisfying the reader or audience. Comic book
editors are like the producer or director of a film, managing the project
creatively with guidance, support and appreciation for the people involved in
the process. A comic book writer must make sure the story is clear, properly
structured and entertaining. The writer’s should also be on the same page with
their artists. These are some of the things to look out for. Through
experience, another difference between writer and editor is that for writers,
you are given deadlines and guidelines you must follow. There’s less
responsibility or tasks given compared to an editor.

T.P.L. NYC: Is there one that you enjoy doing more?

J.L.: Both duties are essential to your practice of
understanding the way comics are made. I learn something new from it after each
story I finish thanks to the other people involved in the project.

T.P.L. NYC: What do you feel makes a good script and
story from your point of view?

J.L.: A good story must have its beginning, middle
and end. It must connect with audiences on an emotional level as well as
riveting. The characters must be engaging and make us feel whether we dislike
him/her or not. I like to feel enlightened by stories and before I forget, a
good theme for the story is very important. I like stories that provide a
message and give lessons that I can incorporate in everyday life. I also like
to experience the worldview of characters that I have never tapped into. When I
close a story at its ending, I want to get some sort of emotion and
satisfaction from the journey I take with the character(s). I believe it is
better to have an interesting character working a boring job, than an
interesting job being performed by a boring character.

T.P.L. NYC: How long does it take you to put a book
together?

J.L.: For an anthology? It usually takes me 4 to 5
months because some collaborators fail to meet deadlines…It happens and it
sucks.

For A Price

T.P.L. NYC: What are some challenges you have
experienced as an independent creator? Do you have any advice on how to get
through the challenges as an independent creator?

J.L.: Learn everything it takes to produce a self-
published work. Create a goal and strategy before you even start working on the
book. You'll have to network like there's no other day and be professional. Get
hands on in the field that you're creatively involved with. As an independent
creator, procrastination and writers block are my enemies. To break out of
writers block, keep yourself busy doing something productive. Take a jog,
exercise, watch a film, play music, clean or just hang out with someone. Two
things that loosened me up from writer's block was exploring new places and
keeping myself busy for inspiration. As for procrastination, you need to tell
yourself that the more you hold something off the more it will bite you in the
arse. Plan accordingly. Set dates and times when it should get done, even if you
didn't get everything you wanted out of it, at least you tried to find your
desire or need. It takes a dedicated disciplinary time and persistence to focus
on that story or project you’re trying to get out.

T.P.L. NYC: How did you find your artists/ creative
teams? What are some of the steps you take to find people to work with?

J.L.: Nonstop networking and building relationships. You have to be believable,
professional and good to get along with. You might have to jump out of your
shell and make friends to make connections and make connections to develop your
product, unless you are a one man army.

T.P.L. NYC: You have another story in the works
called Nunchuck Nancy. It is a cool
title. What is it about and when will the book come out?

J.L.: I'd rather not spoil anyone yet, but I plan on
releasing it by 2014.

T.P.L. NYC: How did you come up with the idea for
this book?

J.L.: Random thoughts and having a love for women that kick butt!

Splash Page Pronto Goes to War featuring Jorel Lonesome

T.P.L. NYC: Will you be using a lot of the same
artists on it?

J.L.: If I can, I’ll stick with one artist. However
working with more than one is a treat as well.

J.L.: As of now, I’d say a creator who has the potential to make good comics.

T.P.L. NYC: What are some of your influences when it
comes to other creators?

J.L.: In the comic book medium, I am a big fan of
Frank Miller’s earlier works. Alan Moore always entertains me. I’m enjoying
just about everything that Geoff Johns and Scott Snyder brings to the table in
comics. Stan “The Man,” Lee is another unforgettable storyteller. I enjoy
Peter David’s work, especially his run on the Incredible Hulk. Anything Neil Gaiman is great. I always like the
edginess and dark gritty crime stories from Chuck Dixon. There are many other
writers/authors that I enjoy reading as well.

T.P.L. NYC: What is your creative process like? How
do you best like to write and work?

J.L.: I start off with” what if’s?” I brainstorm and
start with a character. Then, I set a world around them, come up with a problem
they have with other characters and what characters support them. I write as
much as I can to select what would work well for my interests and the reader’s
interests simultaneously. I like to write and work when the other
responsibilities are done and when an idea catches me during the night or day.
I like to incorporate bits and pieces of what I learn in everyday life into my
writing process as well.

T.P.L. NYC: What kind of genre do you like to
write the most?

J.L.: I'll go for science fiction, fantasy and
horror. As of late I’ve been trying out different genres. I like all genres of
film and comics. It's good to look for the best work in each genre.

T.P.L. NYC: This blog is about peculiar things. What
is the most peculiar thing you’ve experienced in New York City?

J.L.: A gang of vampires in the subway station at about 3a.m. in the morning.
It was the strangest, but coolest experience ever. It wasn't around Halloween
either! It took place in the summer when my sister and I, along with her
friends went to the movies. One leader of the whole pack was some short frail
20-24 year old with pale makeup, jumping from top of the subway steps to the
bottom, showing his fangs. His friends, that were all vamps too were showing
their teeth and moving around the station like actual vampires. It was the
strangest thing and I feared it at first, but it just seemed like a way of life
for them. In New York City, you'll see just about anything weird at night.

Check out a copy of the Blackout #2, available now from Pronto Comics at Collector’s
Kingdom,and will be available online soon. His future projects include, Blackout#3 in 2013, his first graphic
novel, Nunchuck Nancy , and a script
that he will be producing for his first short film "The Great Soup,"
with director Charlton Ruddock.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Many might be familiar with Charles Soule's
name when browsing through the pages of one of his many comics or graphic
novels, but there is a lot more to this Michigan born musician and writer.
Growing up throughout Asia, he studied in Philadelphia and New York City before
settling in Brooklyn in the mid- 90's. An avid lover of music and travel,
perhaps one of his greatest journeys has been through written words and music
notes. Charles Soule was kind enough to sit down with This Peculiar Life NYC to
talk about putting the soul into his music, comics, and creating.

This Peculiar Life NYC: How long have you
lived in New York?

Charles Soule: I've lived in the city since 1996,
and I [feel like I] have a [been] here forever, at this point. Not that I mind.

T.P.L. NYC: How did you get into comics?

C.S.: I started reading comics when I was very
young - it can be a hard habit to break. My dad gave me my first book. He needed
my siblings and I to chill out while he ran an errand, so he zipped into a
drugstore and picked us up a little stack of comics. Mine was an issue of Fantastic Four with Asgardians involved
somehow. From then, my comics addiction went through a number of phases -
sometimes it would go into remission. By '98/'99, though, I realized there was
no point in fighting, and surrendered completely to the wonderful, crazy world
of comics. I've been there ever since, first (and still) as a voracious reader,
and now, amazingly, as a creator as well.

T.P.L. NYC: What was it about comics as
opposed to other artistic platforms?

C.S.: Well, I didn't actually begin there -
I've been writing for years. My first "book" was a children's story
about a unicorn I did in fourth grade, with art by Brad and Greg Mohr.
Unfortunately, the manuscript has since been lost. I've also been a musician
since I was three, first on the violin and then on the guitar. My first big
"try to go pro" writing efforts were novels, and comics writing just
grew organically out of that, more or less. I've always loved comic stories,
and it's no stretch at all to be making them.

T.P.L. NYC: How long have you been in comics?

C.S.: I started taking comics writing
seriously around 2004-2005, by contributing short stories to several
anthologies. That's always a good way to get your feet wet, I think - make sure
you can handle a small, self-contained story before you aspire to anything longer-form.
Long-form stories are in many ways just a bunch of short stories strung
together in any case (it's just that in a novel they're called
"scenes" or "chapters" as opposed to short stories. But I
digress. I got my first publishing deal for a full-length comics story in late
2007. That first book, Strongman,
appeared on shelves in spring 2009 from SLG, and I haven't looked back.

T.P.L. NYC: What is the difference between
writing novels as opposed to writing comics?

C.S.: Well, novels are incredibly solitary and
incredibly difficult. Not that comics aren't, but they're a different beast. I
spent several years on each of the two novels I've written, and the best
comparison I can come up with is the idea of taking a long drive across the
entire country by yourself. You'll come across some amazing things, and you'll
grow from the experience, but man, does it get lonely. With comics, you're
constantly bouncing the story off your various collaborators - the artists, the
letterer, etc. There are many more differences, but that's the one that sticks
out the most to me.

T.P.L. NYC: You are into music also, what are
some the instruments you play? Ever made an album or perform live somewhere? Tell
me a bit about the process, like how do you write your music and songs?

C.S.: My main instrument is the guitar, and
I'm a solid bassist. I also play violin, and I've got very basic competence on
keys, drums and most instruments with strings. No horns, though. I've been
playing live since I was 16, and I've done hundreds of shows at this point.
Many recordings too, although that's not as hard anymore as it used to be since
the home recording revolution (which I think is fantastic.) I studied music
theory and composition in college, and I've written everything from classical
to jazz to rock to musicals. I love music, and it's easily as much a part of my
creative life as writing, if not more.

T.P.L. NYC: I have noticed that many musicians
have been making comic versions of themselves such as K.I.S.S. and Coheed and
Cambria. What do you feel the connection between comics and music is?

C.S.: Music is a freewheeling, anything goes
discipline, and so is comics. There's a vibrant indie scene in both, and they
both have that collaborative aspect, as I mentioned above. Going from working
with musicians to working with artists is a natural. It's all about melding
your respective talents to make something that's a shared effort, something
bigger and better than any one of the group could have done on their own.

Photo by Sandy Pertuz

T.P.L. NYC: How does it feel being a working
writer in comics and making a living at it? Do you feel that this is something
that has become harder for hopefuls to achieve?

C.S.: I don't think it was ever easy. Making a
living from creative efforts is near-impossible. There's tons of competition
and very few slots. Making a living from creative efforts that aren't
compromised in some way (by conforming your creations to the expectations of
people who are funding them, for example) is even harder. There are only a
handful of people who get that far. I think you have to create to create.
Chasing dollars just leads to bad art and heartbreak, I think. Your goal should
be to get good, and then get great. If you can manage that, money will come.
Usually.

T.P.L. NYC: What do you feel you provide
readers with the most when it comes to your projects? Is it style, your
characters or the medium in which you tell your stories?

C.S.: I find it hard to evaluate my own stuff,
but I think I'm good at high concepts and character work. There are plenty of
areas in which I think I'm weak - not that I feel any burning need to share
those today - but I do think the people I write seem like real people, and do
things that real people would do. I'm pretty proud of that (assuming I'm not
totally confused about what my writing's actually like.)

T.P.L. NYC: Do you ever feel that your ideas
can be translated into different types of mediums? Like can a comic idea you
have ever be a book? How do you go about deciding which idea is going into
which medium?

C.S.: Great question. Over time, I've just
sort of developed a feel for what will work where. There are certain stories
that are very internalized - not particularly visual, or restrained to one
location. Those don't make for great comics, usually (although even those can
work, because as we know, comics can do anything!) You just have to feel it
out. I've got a comics story that happens to have tons of water and detailed
battle scenes in it - two things artists don't always love to draw. Still, when
it eventually DOES get done, it'll be amazing simply because of those tough
elements. It'll get there eventually.

T.P.L. NYC: For aspiring writers looking to
break into comics, the challenge can be difficult. How were you able to pitch
or get your work noticed by editors?

C.S.: Basically, you just have to sort of be
around a lot. Go to cons, network, get your talent noticed by anyone who's a
rung or two up the ladder from you. If you're cool, and you're good, maybe
they'll help pull you up to their level with a well-placed kind word here or
there to someone up the ladder from them. It's a long, iterative process
that takes a lot of focused effort. No one breaks in overnight. The standard
path is like five years from deciding to do comics professionally to actually
doing them professionally - that's about how long it was for me.

T.P.L. NYC: Did you pitch things to different
companies; are there comic book publishers that look at unsolicited material?

C.S.: Sure, I did, and still do. Every
publisher has their own feel, and you want to research who will be the best fit
for the story you're trying to tell. Lots of publishers look at unsolicited
material: Image, Shadowline, SLG, Archaia and others will check your stuff out
- but if it's not ready for prime time, you might be doing yourself a
disservice by putting it in front of them before it's super solid.

T.P.L. NYC: What are the best ways you can
think of to find resources to getting your project ideas out to people or what
resources do you use?

C.S.: Well, the internet, obviously. Every
creative field has a vibrant community of fans and content creators online
these days, and you can find those people on Twitter, Facebook, Reddit, message
boards and so on. Seek out people who know what you need to know and ask them
for help. Sure, you'll get the brush-off every once in a while, but you'd be
amazed at how often people are willing to help out.

T.P.L. NYC: You have mentioned that people can
establish a following online now in addition to print. Is it a bit of the
“chicken or the egg” paradox with starting things online? Do you feel you have
to have a print following first in order to have success online?

C.S.: Nope, not at all. If you're good, you'll
get noticed. You just need to be smart about promoting, and make yourself easy
to find.

T.P.L. NYC: If so, what are some ways people
can establish a following online? How did you do it?

C.S.: If you're doing something like a
webcomic, or you've got songs or video clips, put them up everywhere. Use the
many free tools available to promote yourself (mostly talking about social
networking here). Be relentless - without becoming insufferable. Use every
opportunity you can think of. It's hard to keep that balance sometimes, but
it's possible.

﻿

Cover for Strange Attractors

T

.P.L. NYC: You live in NYC and are writing a
series about an older and younger man who use the butterfly effect on New York
City. How did you come up with the idea for Strange Attractors?

C.S.: That's right - Strange Attractors is a beautiful graphic novel that's due to be
published in the first quarter of 2013 by Archaia Entertainment. Archaia's a
wonderful company - they do some amazing things with their books as far as
presentation. They've actually won the Eisner (the comic book equivalent of an
Oscar) for best graphic novel two years in a row, which is a stellar
achievement. Anyway, I've lived in NYC for more than fifteen years, and I've
always been fascinated by the city's thousands of systems big and small that
all somehow manage to work together to keep the lights on, keep us safe, and so
on. NYC is basically this massive organism designed to support millions of
people, as well as generate money, entertainment, fashion and all sort of other
things we export to the world. My preoccupation with the epic complexity of New
York made me want to write a story that would do justice to the incredible,
exotic environment in which I live. I decided that it would be interesting to
write about characters who were sufficiently perceptive to be able to
understand the NYC "machine" well enough to influence it via the
butterfly effect way you mentioned. Basically, they turn the city into sort of
an engine, and the story's about what happens when they turn the key.

T.P.L. NYC: With such a complex idea how much
preparation did it take you to get the story ready? Did you find the research
challenging?

C.S.: I did, but I like research as a rule. I
spent a lot of time reading books on complexity theory and chaos theory and how
they relate to one another. I'll confess that my mathematics background isn't
really sufficient to do anything like what's depicted in the book - I can just
barely understand the underlying theories (which are, understandably, pretty
damn complicated). Still, as a dumb writer, I don't have to. I can use the work
of my intellectual betters as the foundation for a fun story.

T.P.L. NYC: With an idea like this, I imagine
that it would require a lot of thinking to stage out the “cause and effect”
situation of the story, what are some of the exercises or techniques you use to
get ideas to form and flow for you?

C.S.: Index cards and flowcharts. I don't
always do that for stories - some I just let flow - but Strange Attractors needed to work in such a way that the entire
book functions almost the same way as I described the city - it's an engine,
with lots of interlocking parts. One thing affects another, and it all happens
in unexpected and hopefully cool ways. It took a lot of planning, but I'm very
happy with how it's all coming together.

T.P.L. NYC: How many issues is it and is it
available for purchase?

C.S.: Strange
Attractors will be released as a full-color hardcover of about 150 pages.
We're not putting it out as serialized single issues because it just seems like
the sort of story that will work better as one volume - a feast as opposed to a
number of little meals. You can see some art and learn a little more about the
project here: http://charlessoule.wordpress.com/category/writing/strange-attractors/

T.P.L. NYC: Why did you choose NYC as the
setting of the book? What is it about the city that inspires you?

C.S.: Well, it's hard not to be inspired by
this place. It's physically spectacular, from the very nature of Manhattan as
an island metropolis, to the architecture. It's also a place where the best of
everything comes, at one point or another. Finally, it's a place filled with
dreams - they're everywhere. New Yorkers are aspirants. I'm not saying it
always works out for everyone - dreams don't always come true - but it's still
quite a fertile environment. Inspiring.

T.P.L. NYC: You are also the writer of 27.
This is a very fun idea that is very relevant in pop culture, how did you go
about choosing to use this idea?

Cover for 27

C.S.: 27
is the series that broke me through as a comics writer - the first part of the
story started to come out in the fall of 2010, and it got a lot of attention
for an indie series from a writer few had ever heard of before. The premise of
the series is built around the legend of the "27 Club," the list of
famous musicians and artists who have died at twenty-seven years old. It's a
pretty staggering group: Hendrix, Cobain, Jim Morrison, Janis Joplin, and most
recently Amy Winehouse (among many others.) In the series, I set up the reason
for these deaths as a sort of curse affecting brilliant twenty-seven year-olds,
almost a magical thing. It's related to the spirits of creativity and decay,
who appear as characters in the book. The main character is a famous rock star
guitarist, Will Garland, who gets hit with the 27 Club curse and has to try to
understand how it works and ultimately beat it so he can keep playing guitar
and rocking out. The story is soaked in references to rock and roll trivia history
and craziness. It's sort of a supernatural musical adventure, like the best
concert you've ever been to, but it's a book. The series has been collected
into two volumes so far, 27: First Set
and 27: Second Set, published by
Image/Shadowline. You can get them here, as well as a bunch of my other work: www.amazon.com/Charles-Soule/e/B003VNCONO/
in print versions, or here digitally: https://comics.imagecomics.com/#/series/5035
. The story is also being serialized online for free at Keenspot here: http://twenty-seven.keenspot.com. Check
it out - it's a lot of fun.

T.P.L. NYC: You mentioned how you like to add
many layers of complexity with each new project you take on. Since Strongman
you have written about many different things. What new areas do you think you
would like to explore in upcoming projects?

C.S.: I'd like to do something with really
large-scale action. I have a script that's based around gigantic battles and
swashbuckling adventure that I'd like to see come together. I'd also like to do
a horror script. 27 has some horror
elements, but they're more spooky or unsettling than outright terrifying. I
think it would be an amazing challenge to really try to scare people. One day,
hopefully! I have several series coming out over the next year that let me
stretch some of those other muscles, though. The next big thing after Strange Attractors is a political/sci-fi
thing, kind of like 24 meets 2001. After that, I've got a paranormal adventure
story, like an X-Files episode in comic book form, and some other really fun
things as well. Eventually, I'd like to try every genre at least once.

Cover for Strongman

T.P.L. NYC: With only so
many pages in a comic, what is a good way to tell a story without it feeling
rushed or having to cut out a lot of dialogue.

C.S.: This is really just a matter of
practice. The more you do it, the better you get at fitting into that 22-page
length. A single issue of a comic can't really sustain too many scenes, or it
starts to feel cluttered and scattershot. I usually start with a beginning and
end point (usually a cliffhanger) for an issue. I then think about the other
things I want the issue to accomplish, and decide how many scenes and locations
it will take to get there. Usually, I can figure out how to shift things around
to make it work. It's really an experience thing, though, I think. The more you
write the better you write.

T.P.L. NYC: Do you think you would like to
return to novel writing, or do you still write prose and fiction?

C.S.: I would love to, but the comics thing is really taking up almost all of
my writing time real estate right now. I've written a few screenplays for
features and shorts here and there, and I'm slowly working on a big book of...
fairy tales, basically, which will be prose, but it's hard. I'm getting to a
point where I can't just take as long as I want on any given project. Once
deadlines start to become a factor, it can be tough to find the time to work on
huge side projects, especially something like a novel. I'd really like to get
back to it, though. I'm sure I will, one of these days.

T.P.L. NYC: Is there an existing character or
comic book that you would like to work on? Do you feel that you only want to do
original material or would you like to adapt something already created?

C.S.: I would be thrilled to work on
established characters at some point. I'm doing some of that now, although it's
too early to talk about it in any detail. Most aspiring or established comics
writers want to take their turn at the big superhero books, if nothing more to
say they've done it, and I'm no exception. I'm very happy where I am in my
writing career, but if someone handed me the keys to Batman (or Robin, for that
matter), I'd go for it. I like street-level heroes. I think I could write a
nice Green Arrow, or Hulk, or Nightwing/Robin, and I've always liked The Flash
and Daredevil. It would be amazing to write a Star Wars story as well. But
really, I'm pretty jazzed to be where I am.

T.P.L. NYC: Where do you see the state of
comics in the next decade?

C.S.: Digital comics will reignite the
newsstand mentality, allowing people to get new stories in a quick, almost
disposable way, and then they'll purchase collected editions of the things they
love. So, a kid might read six issues of Spider-Man for a buck apiece on his
iPad, and then eventually he might get the collected graphic novel of those six
issues to stick on his shelf. I see single-issue print books - what the average
person thinks of as a comic book - becoming a specialty item printed and
purchased for nostalgic reasons, almost like LPs now. Still, it's all good - as
long as the readership grows, it'll work out. People will always love comics.

T.P.L. NYC: How do you go about getting your
artists? Which ones do you like to work with?

C.S.: It started out that I would find folks
online, via digital classified ad boards like digitalwebbing.com or
deviantart.com. I got in touch with some amazing artists that way. These days,
I'm fortunate to know tons of artists, just from being in the community. So, I
can email or call someone I know and see if they're interested in working
together. It's one of the most gratifying things about my time in the comics
world - getting to know so many spectacularly talented writers and artists.
Hanging out after hours at a comic con is like being dipped into a whirlpool of
ability - it's a huge rush.

T.P.L. NYC: Of all the different comics you’ve
written is there one that stands out as your favorite? Was there one that was
the most challenging or that you were disappointed with the outcome?

C.S.: This is like asking a parent to select
one of their children as their favorite. I love them all for different reasons,
even the ones that had a little trouble in the execution. The ones I worry
about the most are the stories that haven't made it into print yet. I have a
pile of unproduced treatments, scripts and stories that I'd love to have see
the light of day. Making that happen requires a lot of persistence and clever
working of the system - not to mention they have to be half-decent enough for
people to want to read them. But with a little luck, I'll get there, I hope.

T.P.L. NYC: What do you think readers would be
surprised to learn about you?

C.S.: I appeared on Jeopardy! I was on in early 2010. I didn't win, but I did well
nonetheless. It was a pretty amazing experience.

T.P.L. NYC: What is the most peculiar thing
you’ve seen or been a part of while living in New York City?

C.S.: NYC is an endless fountain of
peculiarity, but let's see... my band once played as the backing band for a
lingerie fashion show down on the Lower East Side. Our "green room"
was the ladies' dressing room. The models were all Eastern European and two
feet taller than everyone in the band. They could have cared less whether we
were there, too. Man, now I'm thinking through all the crazy things that have
happened since I've lived here. You don't have to look far in New York City to
come across something strange and wonderful.

Photo by Seth Kushner

T.P.L. NYC: What is the most peculiar thing
that has ever happened to you?

C.S.: Unprintable- but it didn't happen in
NYC. It happened in Singapore.

Read Charles Soule’s latest work in issue 18
of Images hilarious swords and sorcery series Skulllkickers, which will be available in print and digital
on September 26th. His story is called “The Corran’s Tale”and feature many other talented writers such
as Justin Jordan, Tradd Moore, Blair Butler, John Layman and Rob Guillory, and J.
Torres.